Somalia: At least 137 dead and 300 wounded in the
bombing in Mogadishu

Ⓒ AFP – Mohamed ABDIWAHAB – | At least 137 people were killed and 300 wounded in a
truck bombing on Saturday in central Somalia’s Mogadishu, a
police source said on Sunday.

At least 137 people were killed and 300 wounded in a truck
bombing on Saturday in central Somalia’s Mogadishu, a police
source said on Sunday.

“We get different figures for the victims from the medical
centers, but we have confirmed for the moment 137 (dead), most
of them burned to the point of not being recognizable. there
are more than 300 wounded, some of them seriously, “a police
official, Ibrahim Mohamed told AFP.

“It is very difficult to have a precise figure because the
bodies of the dead were taken to different medical centers, and
some of them were taken directly by their relatives to be
buried,” he added, saying it was the “worst attack” that has
ever hit Somalia.

“What I saw in the hospitals I visited is unspeakable, and
we continue to find bodies and I ask everyone to come and help,
people are in a difficult situation,” said the Mayor of
Mogadishu, Tabid Abdi Mohamed.

“There is no worse tragedy than when someone comes to see
the body of a deceased relative and can not recognize it,” he
said.

Ⓒ AFP – Sophie RAMIS – | Attack in Mogadishu

The truck bombing occurred mid-afternoon on Saturday at the
PK5 crossroads in the Hodan district, a busy commercial
district of the capital with its shops and hotels.

This attack has not yet been claimed. But
al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic Shebab Islamists frequently launch
suicide attacks and suicide bombings in and around
Mogadishu.

The shebabs swore the loss of the fragile Somali central
government, backed by the international community and the
22,000 troops of the African Union (Amisom) force.

They were expelled from Mogadishu in
August 2011 and then lost most of their strongholds. But they
still control vast rural areas where they run guerrilla
operations and suicide attacks, often in the capital, and
against military, Somali or foreign bases.